Mcintosh with Ayre pre-amp

Your Ayre would sound best used balanced...and there is a certain synergy when you use their amp and pre together.

Al, I have currently disconnected my XLR cables and am using my Audioquest Emerald RCAs for now. I have found that this reduces the hiss to tolerable levels. When using XLR cables the gain increases from 4db to 10db using the Ayre preamp, which makes a noticeable difference to my ears.

I know that Ayre amps will work best together. However, from my experience the Mcintosh will sound better with the Klipsch speakers I am using and plan to keep for a long time. Ideally I would like to have a Mcintosh MC3XX and an Ayre V-5xe to hook up to my system and compare back to back before making a purchase. I don't think any of the dealers around my area would let me do that because I have purchased all my gear on Audiogon, Ebay, etc. and not from them. Some of the dealers around the Seattle area can be kind of snoody if you know what I mean.

IMO the 402 is far superior to the 352 and worth the extra $$$,,and to find a 352 for 2200 is a pipe dream!!! but I would match your pre with Arye amp